Character in
comic strip "Barney Google and Snuffy Smith," which began in
1919 in the
sports section of the
Chicago Herald and Examiner as "Take Barney Google, F'rinstance." Penned by
Billy DeBeck, it starred the
cigar-smoking, poker-playing, girl-chasing sports fan and less than upstanding
citizen Barney Google. He owned a
horse named
Spark Plug, and his
wife, with whom he has a stormy
relationship, he calls
Sweet Woman. By October of 1919, the strip was distributed by
King Features to
newspapers all across the
country.
In
1942, the strip was inherited by DeBeck's long-time assistant,
Fred Lasswell, who continues to draw the strip today, though Lasswell has changed the focus to be on
Snuffy Smith.
The strip and the character inspired the song, "Barney Google (With the Goo-Goo-Googly Eyes)." In 1995, the U.S. Postal Service issued a Barney Google stamp.